We spent a big part of August away from home, and we're finally getting settled back into our routine. Fran and I had 10 days of vacation earlier this month-- we spent several days in Denver at the wedding of our friend Lucy and then headed out to Portland.
Denver was a lot of fun. This is Kendall, our good friend Jules' baby girl. Erin got a big kick out of her, and did a nice job sharing mom and dad's lap.
We joined Fran's sister Jan and her husband Nick on a hut-to-hut mountain bike trip around Mount Hood. Well, my trip was simply a "hut" because I got sick and bailed after the first night. How disappointing! Fran, Jan, and Nick made it all 4 nights for the second year in a row. The weather was beautiful and the scenery even better. There were some very long and steep climbs (that we don't have in Minnesota!) and though I haven't said it to her face, I think Fran looks pretty tough on a mountain bike (see pic #2 below).
OK, I made a couple photos before my early exit... this one is looking over the Columbia River on the first morning.
Next, we made a couple quick trips up north the following week as my grandpa passed away. He was 89 years old and we'll sure miss him. Erin loves to talk about the "cabino" and "great grandpa Bumpa" which still goes a long way to cheer us up. Here she is playing on the beach with Laura.
On the homefront, Erin was happy to get back to her friends at daycare. Fran and I had a weekend off work together yesterday and today, which was nice. Erin's getting more imaginative in her games at home. Lately, she likes to go on "trips" (to the porch). She'll walk thru the kitchen, wave to us, and say "bye bye, I'm going to Chicago" and shut the porch door behind her and giggle. This has evolved into her packing a bag, dressing up (sometimes in a pair of Fran's high heels), and substituting other destinations into the mix (Portland, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Germany- where Grandpa Dean just got back from). I'd love to see her mental map of exactly where these places are located!
Simple activities are OK too. Here we are coloring on a poster under Duncan's watchful eye. The summer has really flown by. We're looking forward to Erin's first trip to the state fair sometime this week.
It's been awhile since we updated, thought it was about time Dad took a turn! Like many of our friends and family, we've had a busy summer here at the duplex. Erin's been at daycare for ~6 weeks now and, for the most part, is doing great. She had some separation angst for a couple weeks but now has settled into the weekday routine of "school". As we expected, the colds and fevers have come fast and furious. We made our first ER visit after her eye swelled up amidst a cold. Thankfully that has gone away.
Erin seems to be a quick study at daycare. She came home one of the first days with a song listing all the days of the week. She understood which were "schooldays" and which she gets to stay home with mom & dad (or better yet grandpa & grandma!). This revelation led to some amusing morning rituals-- several weeks ago she would wake up and say "not a schoolday... it's Sunday... yup!" (of course it was Wednesday). We got a kick out of the emphatic "yup!" at the end of these proclamations after she'd gone over this idea a second time in her head.
Grandma & Grandpa's house remains a special place... where else do you get to share a Chipotle burrito with dad, bite for bite? My folks are weaning themselves off of full-time child care slowly, as they offered to pick up the little one from daycare several days each week.
Another of Erin's favorite places is the backyard. We watch the tomato plants in our vegetable garden get taller and taller. The new hits are our blueberry bushes and the raspberry patch. These inevitably get harvested in the "two for me, one for the bucket" approach.
Laura and Tom had the family over to celebrate Father's day. The only thing better than the weather was the food. Erin got a kick out of Laura's golden retriever Riley, and vice versa. Tom's camping hammock was a hit too! (below).
The curls are still definitely in effect. This trait comes from the Lee side of the family tree.
Erin now has a "big girl bed" and still does a great job of staying there the whole nap or overnight. Below, her tiptoe out of bed seems to have been interrupted by... well... sleep!
The other big news in June was my fellowship match-- this time next year we'll be in Seattle! I matched in pulmonary/critical care at UW, which is a 3 year program and will run July 2011 to 2014. The reality of actually having to sell a house and move in the next 10 months is setting in, we're going to have a busy year.
Fran is well into the swing of her new duties as a Pediatric chief resident this year. She's based out of HCMC until the new year. It's been fun grabbing lunch or coffee sometimes, this has been the most we've seen each other without Erin around in 2 years!
Fran and I have enjoyed our new ballgirl when we go to the courts. The way our game is going, she's going to have a lot of running to do.
Since Erin's birthday we're rapidly heading towards being a "big girl." According to Erin, "big girls" go to school, ride bikes or trikes, put their pee or poop in the potty and sleep in big girl beds. By the end of this week hopefully she'll have done all of these things.
Erin starts "school" on Tuesday. We went for a visit last week and she did great. She didn't cling to us at all and wanted to join in with the other kids and seems interested in what everyone was doing. She loved the little kid bathroom and spied on a few kids using the potty. She did comment that one of the kids used "a lot of toilet paper." I guess it doesn't take that much to impress her. They take the kids to try to use the toilet every few hours and I'm hoping that watching her peers do this will inspire her. I doubt that she'll refuse to try (like she does at home) when all the other kids are doing it. That will be excellent.
The teachers want to put her in a class with the older kids (mostly kids closer to and a little older than 3) because she is so big and seems more mature than the younger kids. The next youngest kid in her class is just over 2 and a half. I'm a little hesitant, but I really think that she'll do great. We decided to go ahead with the older kid class and we'll reevaluate in another week or so.
Erin has also started riding her trike almost every day. When Matt and I are both able to go for walks, one of us will walk the dogs and the other pushes her along on the trike. I have to say that the push/steer bar is the key to enjoying a toddler with a trike. Nice work Matt.
She has also decided that she loves the bike trailer. We are thrilled and since the weather has been so nice, we've been able to take her for a bunch of rides. We've kept the rides fairly short, but are venturing a bit farther each time. She likes to talk about wearing her bike helmet and the "big bumps" that she goes over in the trailer. We took her today to meet Nate, Tina and Aleia at the park. She managed to fall asleep in the trailer on the way there and back. It still amazes me how kids can fall asleep in the most uncomfortable positions.
And last but not least, we decided it was time to take the side off of her crib. I still feel like a fool, messing with a good thing. But, she had managed to climb out once and bonk her head and it has to happen at some point. We debated whether to wait until things had settled down after starting school, but I think that she's going to be so tired with school that she might just conk out. We'll see. So tonight the side came off, she talked a lot about how it was a big girl bed now and how big girls stay in their beds. She took a book to bed, sang and talked for about 20 minutes and now it is silent. Could it really be that easy?
I feel like a big girl now too. I had my last day as a resident on Friday and now move on to being a chief next week. Wow. It feels very surreal. I never really thought that I would actually finish. I'm trying to hold my new status over Matt, but unfortunately he still knows more than I do, so it's not as satisfying as I thought it would be. Oh well.
The stars aligned and Erin, Matt, Laura, Jan, Dean and I all got to go to the cabin last weekend. It was great and Erin had a great time playing in the water and riding the pontoon boat. Unfortunately Saturday was really stormy, but Sunday was perfect and we stayed through the day to get a chance to play outside as much as possible.
We also got the chance to go see our friends Katie, Jon, Sarah and John and their little girl Mia for dinner this week. It was great to see everyone and Erin had had fun playing with Mia. Katie brought out an ice cream making ball after dinner and the girls took turns rolling it down the hill and chasing after it. She also thought the fruits of their labor were pretty tasty.
Erin playing with the pea gravel at the park near Muggy's house. Almost as good as going down the slide.
Erin hearing her favorite book from Papa Joe and Jeannette. She was fascinated by Jeannette's pink fingernails. She was also thrilled when Papa Joe shared a Milky Way candy bar with her.
Erin was excited at the graduation that she got to clap for everyone. She was inspired and clapped constantly while Paul played her guitar.
Erin will happily read just about anywhere! She seems to prefer slightly tight and uncomfortable places. One of her favorite spots is in Duncan's kennel. She pulls a bunch of books in and closes the door. I haven't included photos for fear that CPS will come to our door.
These are Erin's birthday photos. There are a few other cute ones on Laura's blog. She had a blast blowing out candles, eating treats and opening presents. She got this hat from Papa Joe and Jeannette and insisted on wearing it the rest of the night. The day before her birthday, I told her "today you are one, but tomorrow you will be two." She repeated this phrase for at least a week until she finally agreed that now she is two.
We have had a beautiful spring and sometimes an hour or two to actually enjoy it. We've been out in the backyard a bunch and got the trailer out a few weeks ago. So far, she likes it much better than she used to and talks about liking the big bumps!
It's tough to get pictures of two squirmy toddlers. This was our last dinner with Ann, Chad and Anders before they moved to Chicago. We miss them very much and Erin still talks about wanting to "go see big boy baby Anders in Chicago."
We had a nice Easter morning before Matt had to go to work. Erin got dried cranberries instead of chocolate and thought it was such a treat. I'm sure this is the last year that we can pull this trick.
Since I have been so delinquent about blogging (work just really has gotten in the way lately), this is going to be really long. Don't feel obligated to read it, I just needed some kind of record that Erin and I both existed and did interact over the last 2 months. Matt and I have had a few really busy months with long hours, lots of call and a few work trips sprinkled in. Gramma Beth came to help out for 3 weeks in April. Between the contributions of Gramma Beth, Jan, Dean and Laura, our house has kept running. So thank you so much and here's hoping for less busy times! Updating the blog has been on the to do list for a while, but recently I've started getting nasty emails, so here goes...
At some time in the last 2 months, Erin has really turned into a little girl. It is so much fun to see her mature and be able to express complex ideas. When she is relaxed and happy, we are treated to a constant monologue of Erin’s thoughts. She describes the cars and their colors as they drive by, she talks about things that happened “yesterday” which of course might have happened yesterday or last month, or she will recite songs or her favorite books to us. It is delightful.
Erin was thrilled about her birthday. After Matt’s birthday in April, she spent a lot of time pretending to have “Happy birthday parties” for her dolls and herself. She would spread out her blanket on the floor, bring over the tea set and hand out bowls filled with her play food to all of those who were there. She wasn’t picky about food for these parties and you were as likely to end up with a bowl of onion as anything yummier. Often she would declare that it was a “Happy birthday party for Dando.” One day I asked how old Dando was going to be. She thought for a second before answering, “Three minutes!”
During the week leading up to her birthday, Erin let us know that she would like cupcakes with pink frosting, ice cream (because it’s COLD!) and a pink tricycle. We managed to grant her most of her wishes and when she saw her tricycle was red, blue and yellow instead of pink, she didn’t seem to mind.
She has been fixated on “when Erin is a big girl.” Before her birthday she told us that “Erin ride a yellow bike when she is a big girl.” She also thinks that “Erin will put her pee and poop in the potty when she is a big girl,” and “Erin wear pretty undies when she is a big girl.” I keep assuring her than she can be a big girl with respect to potty training any time she would like, but she’s less than convinced.
Erin absolutely loves her trike and spends a lot of time talking about it and trying to convince me to let her ride it inside. I told her trikes were for outside. She accepted this for a minute before asking me with a twinkle in her eye, “Ride bicycle inside?” Nice try. We got a trike that has a push/steering bar on the back which is wonderful. We’re still working on pushing the pedals as her feet don’t automatically “go around and around and around and around” when the trike moves. She’s getting better and will repeat “this is how the big girls do it!” over and over again as we ride.
She is getting more sophisticated in her reasoning and doesn’t usually take no for an answer. We were driving home from the doctors last week and she asked to eat some Puffins in the car. I told her no, we would wait until we got home to have a snack. She paused and then told me “Erin ate Puffins in the car yesterday!” Hmm… I still said no, it would be messy. To this, she replied, “Erin won’t make a mess.” My goodness, I’m going to have my hands full soon enough.
Erin has endless self confidence and has no qualms about telling people about it. She’ll tell you she is a good cooker, runner, reader and that she is a “very fast runner.” When she is running, she’ll often turn around and command those following her to exclaim “look at her run,” “look how fast she runs.” She appreciates this and is even happier if you start each phrase with “WHOA!”
She is in love with exclamations. Her favorite is “whoa” but she also enjoys “wow,” “oh baby,” “whee,” “whoop-a-ding-dong!” Without fail, she’ll say “whoa” emphatically whenever she sees a truck or a bus or something that really impresses her. She also gets really excited and loud when telling people that something is cold.
We went to Madison last weekend with Jan and Dean for Muggy’s graduation and saw Gramma Beth, Ken, Papa Joe and Jeannette, Jan and Andy. Erin had a blast getting attention from that many doting adults. She is still quiet and reserved in new situations and with new people, but seems to get comfortably pretty quickly. It still seems to take her longer to warm up to men, and as such, Uncle Andy and Paul’s dad, Ron only got “a pat-pat,” when we were leaving. In fact, she specifically told me “no kiss for Ron.” Awww, poor Ron missed out on Erin’s specialty: very soggy kisses right on the lips.
Erin was a trooper in the car and was generally happy to have snacks and read books. She has had a resurgence in reading lately and loves to look at books. Before she was only happy to have us read them to her, but now we often find her snuggled up on the couch, or in Duncan’s kennel, looking at a stack of books. She can recite many of these books to us now and will correct us if we misspeak or miss a word. I also finally gave in and let her take a book to bed with her. I have to say that there aren’t that many or Erin’s traits that come from me, but I am pretty sure that her love of staying up to late while reading a book in bed is pure Lee girl.
Even before the books in bed, Erin has taken a long time to fall asleep. The good news is that she requires nothing from us after we put her down, but the bad news is that she often stays up singing and talking to herself for an hour or more after we put her down. Initially, I tried to shift her bed time and naps around, but none of that made much difference. And since she is so happy while in bed singing and seems generally well rested otherwise, I’ve just let this go.
Erin has gotten very interested in singing and nursery rhymes. She goes with Dean to the library every Wednesday for story time. I’m told that she doesn’t do a lot of singing there, but loves to do the hand motions when other people sing. She also loves to command singing at home or in the car. She’s even happier when we make up songs about her toys and blankets. I have to say that I’m not very creative and most of them are set to the tune of “I wish I were a little bar of soap,” but for now she seems happy with my unsophisticated attempts at music.
We had Erin’s 2 year check up last week and it went great. She is still tall and lean (~90% for height and ~50% for weight with a whopping 20% for BMI). She got 2 booster shots and blood drawn and did not shed a tear. This is not to say that she wasn’t surprised and upset by her pokes, but she recovered very quickly and loved her stickers. She got a princess sticker and a pony sticker. So far, the princess craze is lost on her, and she told me later that she got “a sticker of a pony and a sticker of a girl.” She is also still talking about her “little owies” from the doctors.
Erin is working on a pretty good sense of humor. She loves to be teased, which is either genetic or a defense mechanism for dealing with her Grampa Dean. She loves to tell us that the doggy in the book is a kitten and wait for our reaction, she loves to tell people that they are silly or a "teaser-beazer." She also says things that are funny without actually meaning to. Our recent favorite is when she was wearing a dress, she said "Erin has some no pants on!"
She has been very interested in letters and numbers recently. She will count up to 20 pretty well (15 and 16 really shouldn’t be numbers after all) and she will recite her ABCs. Even better, she will spell her name “E-R-I-N, Erin!” and actually recognizes most of her letters. She will tell you that “C is for cow,” “M is for Matty and Mama,” and “F is for Frances!” She loves to pick out letters she recognizes in books and signs, but is still convinced that most words that have an E and and R probably spell Erin.
We’re still having a few tantrums, but usually they are small and short lived. She is beginning to master the art of whining, which I’m not thrilled about, and is working on how to deal with frustration. Aside from tantrums, her most consistent overt expression of frustration is throwing. It is still pretty wimpy and she doesn’t actually throw things at people so I’m happy. She also hasn’t really gotten the idea of hitting people. She’ll swing her arms wildly when she’s unhappy, but mostly she ends up hitting walls.
Erin is going to be starting daycare at the beginning of June and she’ll already tell you “Erin go to school this summer!” She’s not that sure of what this will entail, but tells us that “Erin will have a teacher,” and “Erin go down the slide at school, Whee!” I’m a little aprehensive about how well this will go over. It’s hard for me to imagine her spending her days with people who are not genetically programed to love and adore her, but I’m sure that it will be just fine. I am also sure that our healthy streak is about to come to an end. It was nice while it lasted!
